Background

About the Museums:

The Norton Simon Museum is known around the world as one of the most remarkable private art collections ever assembled. Over a 30-year period, twentieth-century industrialist Norton Simon (1907–1993) amassed an astonishing collection of European art from the Renaissance to the twentieth century and a stellar collection of South and Southeast Asian art spanning 2,000 years. Approximately 1,000 works from the permanent collection of 12,000 objects are on view in the Norton Simon Museum’s galleries and sculpture garden throughout the year. (Official website, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr)

The Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) is dedicated to the exhibition of California art, architecture and design from 1850 to the present. Informed by the state’s rich mixture of cultures and inspired by its impressive geography, California art has long been defined by a spirit of freedom and experimentation. PMCA exhibitions and educational programs explore the cultural dynamics and influences unique to California that have shaped and defined art in all media. (Official website, Facebook)

Established in 1971, the Pacific Asia Museum is one of a few U.S. institutions dedicated to the arts and culture of Asia and the Pacific Islands. The museum’s mission is to further intercultural understanding through the arts of Asia and the Pacific Islands. The museum’s historic building has served as a center for art, culture and learning in Pasadena since its construction in 1924 by pioneering collector and entrepreneur Grace Nicholson (1877–1948) as her residence, galleries and treasure house/emporium. The collection has grown to more than 15,000 objects, spanning more than 4,000 years and the region extending from Persia to the Pacific Islands. In its brief history, the museum has organized and presented a number of groundbreaking exhibitions, including the first North American exhibitions of contemporary Chinese art after the revolution and the first exhibition of Aboriginal art in the United States